DORAL, Fla. — Two teenagers were killed Tuesday evening in a fiery single-vehicle crash in Doral, and investigators were working Wednesday to determine what led the car to blaze at the scene. The wreck was reported near Northwest 87th Avenue and 54th Street, where emergency crews found the vehicle engulfed in flames.
Two people inside were pronounced dead at the scene. By Wednesday morning, Jeannette Acevedo-Isenberg identified the students as Mateo Dávila and Alessia Tucci in a statement to families, and said grief counselors would be offered to support students and staff starting that day.
The deaths hit the Downtown Doral Charter Upper School community hard because the two teens were part of it. Dávila was a member of the school's basketball team, which posted a tribute on Instagram that drew hundreds of likes and dozens of comments. The post read, “Rest in peace to our beloved player Mateo Davila,” and, “You and your family will always be in our hearts.”
Friends described Dávila and Tucci as a beloved couple, and the shock rippled quickly through their circle. Rubin Abreu said he was in disbelief when he heard the news. “I didn't want to believe it, until one of my other friends had texted me privately, and I don't know, I actually have no words,” he said. Daniele Borgia, who said she was a close friend of Tucci’s, recalled telling the pair, “I said you guys are going to get married. I told her you guys are going to get married, and I better be in the wedding.”
Camila Calderon remembered Dávila as “just like a jolly person” who “never let bad things like bring him down,” and said Tucci was “such a light to so many of her friends.” The investigation into the crash remained open Wednesday, while the school and its students faced the first day of grief counseling without two classmates they had expected to see in the hallway again.
